The LVI SmartGuider is an innovative, stand-alone
autoguiding camera whose advanced built-in logic allows correction for
all tracking errors of any equatorial mount equipped with a standard ST4 autoguider port. Unlike other guiders on the market, the LVI SmartGuider
is a stand-alone unit that interfaces directly with your guidescope and
mount, no PC required. The Control Paddle features a wide graphical
display, which enables the user to constantly monitor the tracking
performance and fine-tune all of the guiding corrections sent to the
mount. It also has a set of easy to navigate menus for fine tuning all
the camera parameters (both standard and advanced), which make the LVI SmartGuider suitable for all applications, even the most demanding.
Unlike all other autoguiding cameras currently available on the market, the LVI SmartGuider can effectively guide out all tracking errors without using a laptop. By leveraging the latest advances in electronics and imaging, it allows the astrophotographer
to cut down on the complexity of the setup phase. Operations such as
correct exposure selection, guide star framing, focusing and axis
calibration, which are the key to a successful imaging session, are
very time-consuming and normally require the use of a computer display.
With the LVI SmartGuider, these operations can be
performed very quickly and intuitively, thanks to the ease of use and
the accessibility of all functions.
If the LVI SmartGuider
is to be used on a fixed or semi-permanent imaging platform, you can
leave it attached to the guide scope: certain operations such as
focusing and axis calibration can thus be done once, saving the
parameters into the camera’s flash memory for later use. This way, all
you have to do is find a guide star and you’re up and running in the
blink of an eye.
Moreover, a special eyepiece (called “SmartEye”)
is available which is parafocal with the camera and shares the very
same field of view: this makes it possible to locate a guide star,
frame and focus in seconds!
NO NEED FOR A LAPTOP
Not having to use a laptop for autoguiding carries a number of advantages:
- For
all those who don’t really need a PC (e.g. as is the case with
traditional film or DSLR imaging), the benefit is twofold: you save on
PC hardware cost and on the energy needed to power it.
- CCD
users can benefit as well, as the use of the stand-alone LVI
SmartGuider greatly reduces the performance overhead on the PC. This is
very convenient especially with resource-hungry setups where the PC is
already under heavy load (e.g. with big multiple-megapixel CCDs,
electrical focusers, motorized filter wheels, etc.). This also
significantly lowers the chance of dangerous operating systems crashes.
- As
the LVI SmartGuider is sensitive enough to find a suitable guide star
anywhere in the whole sky with exposure times of around 1 second, you
can also save on the cost of a micrometric guidescope support, needed
to scan the “celestial neighborhood” in case a sufficiently bright star
cannot be found in the field of view.
The LVI SmartGuider
camera is a dedicated solution for those who enjoy deep-sky imaging
with traditional film or DSLR cameras and want to reduce time-consuming
set-up times and/or the need for a laptop. Normally the clearest and
darkest skies can only be found in remote places where such a simple
facility as a household AC outlet is a real luxury. In this context,
long exposure times that can only be exploited under pitch-dark skies
absolutely call for both the most precise and reliable autoguiding
performance, and simple, no-frills, low power consuption equipment.
The
jaw-dropping skies that can be admired only at remote locations (like
high peaks, tropical islands lying in the middle of the ocean thousands
of kilometers away, and as such reachable only by plane) can really be
taken advantage of only with the simplest setup, i.e. a small
battery-powered equatorial mount carrying a telephoto lens or a small
telescope. Those using a CCD cameras not fitted with a dual autoguiding
sensors (i.e. all but the models from SBIG) also need a guide scope
mounted in parallel with the main OTA or an off-axis guiding
attachment. This applies in special cases to dual-CCD cameras as well,
e.g. when imaging asteroids, comets or using narrow-band filters (Ha,
SII, OIII) which dim the stars in the field of view so much as to make
it extremely difficult to find a suitable candidate. And, of course,
the more hardware (e.g. main CCD camera, autoguiding camera, filter
wheel, electrical focuser, and so on) that’s attached to the laptop,
the stronger the workload, and consequently, the higher the chance of
dangerous crashes. Using the LVI SmartGuider basically spares you the
need (and the hassle) of burdening the laptop with yet another
peripheral (or even the need for more powerful hardware), thereby
significantly lowering the odds for a system lockup…
The LVI
SmartGuider is equipped with a state-of-the-art detector, whose high
sensitivity often eliminates the need for a micrometric guide scope
support. In many cases, these (often low-quality) supports are the
source of differential flexure which inevitably results in star trailed
pictures. When both optics are attached to the mount via fixed
supports, the risk of flexures becomes negligible.
And what’s even
more amazing, is that just an 80-mm telescope is more than enough to
detect stars as dim as 8th magnitude with just one-second exposure
time!
TOTALLY INDEPENDENT OF THE SOFTWARE
Using
the LVI SmartGuider ensures that you will never have to wrestle with
device drivers under Windows, and that it will never fail you, even
with setups you have never used before. All cameras that need to be
hooked up to a PC via a USB port or a frame grabber are still a valid
option for autoguiding.
Of course, the above holds true only if everything works smoothly. This is not always the case.
Fortunately,
problems such as incorrect detection of the camera, operating system
crashes, hardware conflicts, problems with device drivers (whose
installation CD you will of course have left home, after driving a long
distance to reach a clear and dark location) are not so common, but
they normally take place when you least expect it or just when you’re
not prepared to fix them. Mr. Murphy always knows when the best time
has come to spoil your imaging sessions. When you’re finally ready
under a magnificent sky and eager to start shooting (as you probably
won’t even bother leaving driving a long way or setting your rig up
unless everything looks more than promising), that’s when problems
usually show up. Not only does the LVI SmartGuider help keep all these
bugaboos at bay. It can also work flawlessly with rigs it has never
seen before, without the need to reconfigure or to calculate any new
parameter. Thanks to its advanced built-in logic, it can automatically
adjust itself to any new equipment combination in order to maximize its
autoguiding performance. All you have to do is just to hook it up and
enjoy imaging your favorite deep-sky targets!
